Ohm Walsh Micro Talls: who's actually heard 'em?

Like others over the years, I have slogged through all 57 pages of this post before opening an Audiogon account and making my first post to this forum thread.

I recently obtained a pair of 4XO's here in Austin from a young man who had been gifted them, but was wholly unready to understand and appreciate them.  I purchased them from him off of Craigslist for $250.

They do have some condition issues: chipped veneer, missing basket grilles and a can somehow completely freed from its epoxy among them.  I have installed them in my available listening area and have spent a fair amount of time trying to dial them in.  (The listening area is extremely problematic.)

I am relatively new to the audiophile ranks, and I have been slowly ramping up purchases of used gear and trying things out.  (This means making low dollar commitments and making plenty of mistakes, of course.)  In so doing, I'm following the pattern I established with amateur astronomy seven or eight years ago: read forums, buy used gear, join Society, etc.  One of my recent purchases was a set of Allison Acoustics CD-7's, which will now rotate to surround duties.

I have had an initial conversation with John S., and he was as gracious as everyone has previously mentioned.  My budget is extremely constrained (mortgage, kid, WAF, etc.), and so I likely will risk the UPS gods at some point soon to send the drivers in for maintenance.  I don't believe I can afford any trade ins/upgrades.  I am awaiting John's feedback and recommendations for addressing my space.

I am currently maintaining a Pioneer Elite VSX-LX301 for home theater duties and room correction (MCACC).  It is not rated for the impedance of the Ohms or the Allisons, but it is doing fine so far for the levels at which we listen to TV and movies.  I can also use it with my Sony BDP to access multichannel audio recordings stored on my home server.  I am doing my two-channel listening on a vintage Pioneer VSX-D1S transitional AVR.  That was a recent "upgrade" from another vintage AVR, the Rotel RX-950AX.  I have a Denon + Ortophon for my albums.  I also run Roon server on my workstation and feed a Raspberry Pi doing dual duty to a HiFiBerry Digi+ and a Scarlett 2 series for streaming.

At this point, I mostly wanted to say "hi" and share how interesting I found the 9+ year exchanges of experiences and opinions on this thread.  Thanks for letting me share my find with you.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/baNbck2X5xRqMmTJ9

-austingonzo

Austingonzo, you have come to the right place. $250 got you a lot of speaker for the $$$$. Best wishes.

austingonzo...

As a native New Yawkah I can tell you that John S. is an absolutely trustworthy and honest business man. I have the good fortune of residing within driving distance of the Ohm factory, in my county of birth, Brooklyn. 

A few years back I drove to Massachusetts to pick up a pair of used Walsh 2’s. I had no idea then that the company was still operating.  I bought them because I remember how good they sounded when I first heard them at a friend’s house waaaaaay back in high school. They were in as expected condition, operating well, but with both cans dented and some veneer issues.  No big deal really. 

I googled “Ohm” and discovered they were still in business - and in Brooklyn!  I sent John an email explaining my situation and he offered a few options I could consider. I went for the update option, new this, new that.  All for under $1k. I drove with the speakers to the factory and dropped them. 

The upgrades took about a week or two. I picked them up, wired ‘em in, and...wow.  I had the same speakers I drove 250 miles to pick up, only now the sound was measurable superior. After about a week the highs on the left speaker disappeared.  Poof!  No drama, no smoke, just no sound.  I called John and he said to bring them back.  A loosely soldered wire was fixed. Bingo. 

To shorten this story, I loved those speakers. The three trips back and forth totaled 300 miles for me. Ohm is special - different. Unique. So is the company. Talking with the guy who owns the company, someone who actually gives a hoot about quality and customer satisfaction is increasingly rare. Best of luck with yours, and enjoy!

Great guy, great company and best of all, located in my place of birth, Brooklyn. 

oblgny

As a native New Yawkah I can tell you ... I have the good fortune of residing within driving distance of the Ohm factory, in my county of birth, Brooklyn.

I'm not a New Yorker, but Brooklyn is not a county. It's one of the five boroughs of New York City and is located in Kings County.